NEW YORK, N.Y. — The Columbia Scholastic Press Association has named Ray Westbrook the 2021 National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year. Westbrook, a journalism teacher/adviser of the newspaper and yearbook at St. Mark’s School of Texas in Dallas, was selected from among 17 teachers who were national finalists.

The Distinguished Advisers are: Tracy Anderson, Community High School, Ann Arbor, Michigan; Lindsay Benedict, McLean High School, McLean, Virginia; Abrianna Nelson, Washington-Liberty High School, Arlington, Virginia; and Alana Van Der Sluys, Kinnelon High School, Kinnelon, New Jersey.

The Special Recognition Advisers are: Steven Denlinger, Stafford High School, Fredericksburg, Virginia; Steve Hanf, First Flight High School, Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina; Tamra McCarthy, James Enochs High School, Modesto, California; and Kathleen Mills, Bloomington High School South High School, Bloomington, Indiana.

The selection panel included Erinn Harris, 2020 Teacher of the Year from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia; Mark Goodman, Knight Chair in Scholastic Journalism at Kent (Ohio) State University; Linda Shockley, former managing director, Dow Jones News Fund; Edmund J. Sullivan, Executive Director, Columbia Scholastic Press Association; and Laura Widmer, Executive Director of National Scholastic Press Association.

The National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year Awards program is managed by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association and co-sponsored by Dow Jones News Fund, with additional support from Poynter Institute for Media Studies and The Wall Street Journal.

More information with biographies and background on the winners plus the awards process can be found on the CSPA Web site.